Chapter 904

Wu Tie left the northern border, marched straight in, and reached the heartland of Sui Chao.

A mighty city lay against mountains and water, surrounded by fertile fields; a fierce wind blew over, and the heavy golden rice stalks rolled in the fields, filling the air with a pleasant, fresh rice fragrance.

In the next moment, iron cavalry attacked; three units of cavalry thundered past, trampling that golden field to pieces.

In the sky, warships flew in succession, their bow main guns wildly pouring out violent force.

A thick column of light rose above the city, and the main gun's light beam struck it and exploded.

Ripples of strong light rolled on the light column; inside the city came the cries of countless elderly, weak, women, and children, while the able-bodied grabbed the spiritual weapons just issued by the lord's manor, donned the armor just issued, fiddled with the bows and crossbows just issued, gritted their teeth, and took their places on the city wall.

This mighty city, spanning a hundred li, had only one standard ten-thousand-strong garrison.

The lord's manor flung open its armory doors, recruited militia, armed all the able-bodied throughout the city, and prepared to defend the city to the death.

These days, news came from all directions; no matter whether you resisted or not, the city would ultimately be slaughtered.

The so-called reason that you resisted, therefore the city was slaughtered, is merely an excuse.

In the end, the city would be slaughtered, and one's own wife, children, and elders would ultimately be harmed by those jackals with blood-red eyes.

If that is the case, then fight desperately.

The three iron cavalry units began to run around the city; a divine-realm commander dismounted, stood at a height level with the city gate tower, expressionlessly shouted: "Open the gate, surrender the city, and spare your lives and property."

In response to the commander, the lord drew his strong bow and loosed an arrow with all his might.

The lord's cultivation far exceeded that of the rebel commander.

The arrow released, the commander grunted, the arrow pierced his chest and tore a transparent hole the size of a sea bowl in his chest.

The three iron cavalry units shouted together, they reined their mounts and quickly formed ranks.

Three ferocious beast-army spirits coalesced in the killing aura; accompanied by frantic shouts, three great generals wielding long swords leapt into the air, gathering the power of three military formations, and their long swords heavily struck the city's grand defensive formation.

With a tremendous boom, the grand defensive formation shuddered violently, but it ultimately endured the barrage of heavenly main guns and the assault of the military formations.

A gaunt old Daoist in tattered blue robes, his aura immeasurably deep, burst from a warship, he hehe-laughed, his hands flashing with the faint clear light unique to the Myriad Calamities Hand, and he struck the grand defensive formation with one palm.

With a tremendous boom, the grand defensive formation was shattered like snow hit by boiling water.

Countless citizens within the city uttered desperate cries.

The gaunt Daoist laughed loudly; a three-inch, hiltless flying sword shot from his sleeve with a swish, sweeping horizontally from left to right across the southern city wall.

On the wall, two thousand regular garrison troops and over ten thousand conscripted militia spurted blood from their throats, great gouts of blood spraying far away; over ten thousand able-bodied defenders fell, their heads tumbling to the ground.

"It's too late to surrender." The gaunt old Daoist's eyes flickered with mad greed: "You dare to make a last stand, block the heavenly troops—you all deserve death!"

The gaunt old Daoist spread his right hand, and a thunderbolt spell blasted toward the southern gate.

Wu Tie appeared silently at the southern gate, allowing that thunderbolt to strike him.

With a tremendous boom, the thunderbolt exploded, a mass of scorching plasma fire cloud sprayed over ten li from the southern gate; the cavalry unit attacking the southern gate was hit by the splashing plasma, and instantly tens of thousands of soldiers screamed as they turned to green smoke.

"You deserve to die." Wu Tie pointed with his right hand; his black sword turned into a black blade of light that shot out, piercing straight through the gaunt Daoist's chest.

With just that strike, the gaunt Daoist's smile hadn't even faded before the black sword consumed his entire essence, his body exploding into a cloud of drifting ash.

Death came so swiftly that the black sword greedily devoured everything of that old Daoist.

A half-step venerable expert died so silently, even the heavenly light pillar that must appear when a divine-realm powerhouse falls was swallowed clean by the black sword, not a glimmer escaping.

Thunderclouds roiled in the sky as Wu Tie exerted himself to release the vast mana within him.

Heavy thunderclouds blanketed the empty space within a radius of several hundred li, yet this mass of cloud rose several thousand li high; the pitch-black thundercloud was like a black pillar standing between heaven and earth.

The black cloud layer churned violently, countless bolts of lightning tens of zhang thick like flood dragons, wildly struggling and twisting within the black clouds.

In the next instant, Wu Tie pointed, and heavenly thunder poured down, avoiding the central city and cascading onto the rebel formations outside.

The three cavalry units attacking the city vanished instantly.

Sui Chao's hundred-zhang-long standard warships sprayed strong light, activating all their defensive prohibition formations, but Wu Tie's thunder was near the Dao; each bolt of wild thunder like a deity's angry hammer strike smashed heavily into the tiny warships.

The warships trembled, roared, exploded, scattering molten iron and firelight across the sky, together with the screaming, cursing sailors aboard, all vanishing into nothing.

"You slaughter cities; I will slaughter you." Wu Tie's pupils faintly took on a hint of red.

Along the way, one sees that once-thriving great cities have been utterly destroyed, corpses strewn within, unknown how many innocent commoners were slain.

Bones litter the fields; for a thousand li, not a chicken's crow is heard.

Wu Tie's anger reached its peak, yet he was utterly powerless.

As one man, even if he could now command a host of venerable experts, what could he do?

He still could not overcome human hearts, still unable alone to change this mad, chaotic age.

He must possess greater power.

Wu Tie stood beneath the black clouds, countless bolts of lightning scraping his body as they fell wildly; this scene made him seem like a thunder god descending, using wild heavenly thunder to cleanse this foul world.

A larger flagship burst open, and more than a dozen Daoist-robed elders, their behavior mad and frantic, rushed out.

They laughed loudly, then without a word launched a fierce assault on Wu Tie.

The secret Dao arts of Qinglian Temple, plus some secret techniques from the White Lotus Palace and Red Lotus Temple—these dozen-odd Daoists had astonishing cultivation, each having reached the half-step venerable level.

Wu Tie gripped his black sword, roaring as he charged at them.

Sword for sword, fist for fist, thunder for thunder.

The very void was nearly blasted with a great hole; after the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, a dozen-odd Daoist corpses fell from the sky, smashing heavily onto the ground and blasting huge craters into the fields about to be harvested.

Wu Tie bore faint traces of blood on his body; facing half-step venerable experts, he could not withdraw unscathed, after all having suffered a slight injury.

Hovering in midair, amidst the admiring gazes of the city's old and young below, he stood dazed for a moment, then raised his black sword high.

"This might be a foolish decision… but I will not allow you to do this; you, you must not."

"If you do it, then bear the cost!"